Wetumpka Guidance Counselor Natasha McMillan Has Heart of Gold For Students

By Gerri Miller, Staff Writer

Wetumpka Elementary School Guidance Counselor Natasha McMillan takes the idea of “It takes a village” to heart in all that she does daily for her students.

McMillan has her hands in so many projects that directly affect the health and overall well-being of her students. She has collected more than enough school supplies for students who may need them.  “It took years to get this many supplies,” she said. She also has a wall of personal hygiene items and items for students who may have experienced a tragedy. She has worked to help a child in the school who was the recent victim of a house fire.

McMillan said this year she has begun collecting coats for children who may need them. With each coat comes a card that says it is ‘being provided by the gracious donation of someone in your community and in memory of a beautiful angel in heaven.”

That angel is Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney, the three-year-old Birmingham girl who was kidnapped from a birthday party, killed and thrown in a dumpster. The program is called “Coats for Cupcake” McMillan said new coats are currently needed for the program.

This year McMillan has also started a “Secret Santa” program so that every child will receive something from Santa for Christmas.

“We had enough sponsors to cover 40 to 50 children,” she said. “I just really have a lot of good people helping me.”

This year she started a program where male volunteers mentor boys without fathers at home. She has 25 men who stop by the school during the day to eat lunch, read or play games with the boys.

“We have a school with a lot of needs, but we also have wonderful parents,” McMillan said. “The community is what makes it work.”

Nicole Easterling is one of those parents. She has two children, one a previous student and one a third grader there now. She said McMillan “really has a heart for people and always steps up to the plate.” She said McMillan is successful at bringing together large groups of people who stand behind her.

“It is all because she is willing to find the need and then feed that need,” Easterling said. “She really is the hands and feet of Jesus.”

One of McMillan’s most successful programs has been the school’s Food Pantry. The Food Pantry distributes food to about 25 school families every two weeks. Parents can drive through the school parking lot and take a load of food that includes canned goods as well as fresh fruits and vegetables.

She said that every child in the school now receives free breakfasts and a mystery donor recently paid off the lunch debts of every child as well.

McMillan can frequently be seen around school dressed up as characters such as The Grinch or The Elf on the Shelf.  “I love my job,” she said. “It is worth everything.”

She taught first grade for seven years before becoming the school’s guidance counselor. “At first I was afraid to step out of the classroom, but it has been so worth it,” she said. “I get to touch the lives of every child in the school.”

This is her sixth year as the guidance counselor. She also teaches 24 classes each week on character.

What’s coming up next?  A BMX Bike Show in April. A team out of Athens, Ga., who has done the action-packed show at the school in previous years will perform and McMillan said the kids love it.